What we're looking atUpdated: State Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Litchfield Park, said statistics show there is a higher number of abortions among minorities and a higher number of women aborting females.

The comment
"(Department of Health Services) just came out with reports for 2009 with numbers that show a higher number of abortions for minorities. It's both a statewide and national trend. ... Sex selection was studied by the National Academy of Science in March 2008, and research shows there is a strong son-bias in parts of America. There is clear evidence that this is happening."

The forum
Interview with AZ Fact Check on Feb. 15, 2011.

Analysis
Montenegro sponsored two House bills related to abortion.

House Bill 2442 would have made abortions based on sexual selection a Class 3 felony. That bill did not make it out of committee.

House Bill 2443 would forbid someone from performing an abortion knowing that the abortion is being sought based on the sex or race of the fetus or the race of a parent, and would require the woman to sign an affidavit stating that she is not seeking an abortion for one of those reasons.

Montenegro said he had statistics to support his position, and the bills were in response to what he says is a higher number of abortion among minorities and a higher number of females being aborted than males. Montenegro has made the claim repeatedly, including in an interview with the Capitol Media Services in which he said there is a higher rate of abortion among minorities.

"We can all agree on this: that it is never OK to discriminate against the unborn, that they are the wrong sex or the wrong race," he told AZ Fact Check.

Montenegro said he made his statements based on Arizona Department of Health Services figures from 2009, a study done by the National Academy of Sciences in March 2008 and an article in the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology from 1992.

Reports from the ADHS separated the data on abortions in several ways, based on age, county and race of the mother. The department does not track the race of the father.

According to the documents, in 2009, 10,045 of 103,172 pregnancies in the state ended with abortions.

Of the abortions, 3,303 were Latino, 736 were Black, 300 were American Indian or Alaska Native, and 390 were Asian or Pacific Islander. That equals 4,729 terminated pregnancies among minority women -- about 47 percent of the total abortions in the state.

Among White women, there were 4,759 abortions -- about 47 percent of the total abortions in the state.

There also were 134 abortions listed as "other" and 423 listed as "unknown" for race and ethnicity.

So in terms of raw numbers, White women had more abortions than minority women. In terms of percentages, White women and minority women had the same percentage of total abortions in the state.

That means Montenegro was not accurate when he referred to a higher number of abortions for minority women.

However, when speaking to other media, Montenegro mentioned a higher rate of abortion among minorities. That statement may be more accurate.

ADHS records show that White women had a rate of 6.4 abortions per 1,000 females of childbearing age. Latino, Black and Asian women had higher rates of abortion in 2009. American Indian women, however, had the lowest rates at 3.6 abortions per 1,000 females.

For national data, the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit organization that researches sexual and reproductive health, reported in 2008 that "non-Hispanic White women accounted for 36 percent of abortions, non-Hispanic Black women for 30 percent, Hispanic women for 25 percent and non-Hispanic women of other races for 9 percent."

Montenegro also told Capitol Media Services that more females are aborted than males. However, that claim is more difficult to prove.

Both the National Academy of Sciences study and the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology article state there is a bias in the United State toward having male children.
The study "Son-biased sex ratios in the United States Census" focused on male-biased sex ratios for Chinese, Korean and Asian Indian children born in the United States. Although the study acknowledged the use of abortion for sex selection, it does not provide statistics for the number of females aborted compared with males. The study instead looked at the number of male children in a family compared with the number of females.

In the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology article "Sex Selection: Regulating Technology Enabling the Predetermination of a Child's Gender," author Owen D. Jones wrote that "it is rather widely accepted that no one knows the actual extent of sex-selection abortions in the U.S."

ADHS said it does not track the statistics for the sex of terminated pregnancies in Arizona.

Planned Parenthood also does not track the sex of a terminated pregnancy because it is not a requirement of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Cynde Cerf said the majority of abortions are performed before the sex of a fetus can even be determined.

Bottom line: Statewide statistics indicate there is not a higher percentage of abortions among minorities compared with White women. However, national statistics indicate a higher percentage of abortion among minorities. In terms of rates of abortion within specific ethnic groups, statewide statistics show Latino, Black and Asian women have higher rates than White women. Although studies indicate sex selection is an issue, health organizations do not track the number of males or females aborted, so there is no data to support that claim.

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